Motorola have been doing Smartphones for quite some time, although with the exception of a couple of Linux based models for the Asian market and a couple of Symbian/UIQ based devices, most of them have been running Windows Mobile. That was until the introduction of the CLIQ, which is Motorola’s first Android based Smartphone.
This is quite possibly the most interesting Smartphone that Motorola has launched so far, not only because of the operating system, but also because of the design and features on offer. For starters, the design itself is different enough from all the other Android handset on the market, with the only similar device being the HTC Dream/G1 as it also offers a full QWERTY keyboard.
However, the keyboard on the CLIQ is quite different from pretty much any other Smartphone we’ve seen, although it does remind us to a degree of the Nokia N97, but with a better layout. The most distinct feature is the four-way navigation pad with a centre button which replaces the cursor keys. The unusual layout continues with a row of buttons which includes the Alt and Sym keys, as well as the spacebar and the Android specific zoom and back buttons.
The screen measures 3.1-inches with a resolution of 320×480 pixels with capacitive touch and a hard “glass” surface without “give”. This should if nothing else prove to be easy to wipe off fingerprints and smudges from. At the core of the CLIQ is a Qualcomm MSM7201A processor which is clocked at 528MHz which is so far the most commonly used processor in Android handsets. Motorola has been a little bit stingy on the storage memory side, as you only get 256MB, although more can be added via a microSD card slot.
Other features include a 5 Megapixel camera with auto focus, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, a GPS receiver with AGPS support, an accelerometer and a 3.5mm audio jack. The CLIQ will work on 3G networks using the 900/1700/2100MHz bands as well as on all four GSM network frequencies. There’s also support for 7.2Mbit HSDPA, although so far there’s no word on upload speeds.
The CLIQ measures 114x58x15.6mm (DxWxH) and weighs in at 163g which makes it a rather heavy handset, but the slide-out keyboard is part of the reason for this. The battery is quoted to be good for 6h of continuous usage or 13.5 days of standby.
Motorola also launched its own custom UI for Android called MOTOBLUR which according to a quick test by Engadget feels much quicker than HTC’s Sense UI and the handset overall feels a lot snappier. Motorola has also added five home screens over Androids default three.
The Motorola CLIQ pricing hasn’t been officially unveiled as yet, but T-Mobile in the US managed to leak its pricing and it looks like you’ll end up forking out $400 (€274) for the CLIQ without a contract, but it’ll be available for free on contract. This seems very reasonable for what’s on offer here and it looks like Motorola might just be back in business.
You can find the product page here which also offers an online demo of MOTOBLUR. The video below (courtesy of Engadget) is from the launch event and if you want a quick comparison of the different Android devices currently on the market, then Engadget has a quick cheat sheet which you can find here.
